First Step Virtual Assistant

29/08/2013

02/07/2013

Choosing a Virtual Assistant can help grow your business, and cut cost.

First Step Virtual Assistant

02/07/2013

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08/02/2012

Ways to Cut Costs and Increase Cash Flow

When business is strong, we sometimes forget about being frugal, but we all remember the "bad days" of the appraisal recession in the mid-1990s. You don't want to be scrambling to "do something" if you are in a cash crunch. If you are doing okay, why not cut some costs and put more money in your pocket?

There are two primary rules, used by all properly managed companies, from one-appraiser firms to Fortune 500 companies:
1. Pay your bills only when they are due.
2. Get your income as soon as possible.
Fortunately for appraisal firms, most of the costs are variable. For example, if your work volume drops, your photo processing and appraisal fee split labor also drop. But fixed costs, such as rent and support staff, can cause financial problems when appraisal assignments drop off quickly.

Cash management

1. Pay no bill before its time. Don't pay any bills until they're due. See who has a late charge, and who doesn't. Send checks out on Friday to take advantage of the weekend "float."
2. Exercise dormant lines of credit. Frequently business owners set up lines of credit they don't use. The bank may drop your line of credit if it is not used for a certain period of time, so be sure to check their use requirements. If there is an annual cost, such as 1%, many business owners consider dropping a line of credit. But remember the rule of banking: If you really need the money, you probably can't qualify for the loan.
3. If you don't have a line of credit, set one up now. Check around for competitive rates. It's a lot cheaper than using credit cards if you're really in a cash flow pinch.
4. Closely monitor your three sources of cash:
- Appraisals in process, not yet completed
- Appraisals billed out, but not yet collected
- Paid billings: cash on hand
5. Complete and bill out appraisals as fast as possible. The sooner they're billed, the sooner they'll be paid. We're all tempted to "let the work fill up the time available." But, it delays payment of your bill. If they don't have the appraisal, they won't pay the bill.
6. Give your associate appraisers a higher fee split if they're willing to wait to be paid until you're paid for appraisals. This policy can be a substantial help to cash flow problems as the highest percent of expenses is appraisal labor.
7. Be very aggressive with past-due accounts, particularly non-institutional companies, such as mortgage brokers. With many mortgage brokers expected to go out of business, and both mortgage bankers and brokers having cash flow problems, let them be late paying someone else, not you. In collections, the "squeaky wheel gets the grease." Call every day if necessary.
8. Get interest on your money by setting up a "sweeps" account or interest bearing checking account, and doing daily deposits. Even if it's only two or three percent interest, it's better than nothing.
9. Get as many pre-payment or COD's as possible. Offer a discount, if necessary. Require pre-payment from private clients, or business clients that may cause payment problems. If they won't pre-pay or COD, turn down the work. Don't work for free.

05/01/2012

Why Use A First Step Virtual Assistant in 2012

More and more smart business owners are making the cost-effective decision to partner with a Virtual Assistant, or a Virtual Assistant firm, to provide the administrative support services necessary to operate their businesses. In some cases, business owners choose to work with a Virtual Assistant for all of their administrative needs, while some others may choose only to outsource specific projects. Additionally, some business owners choose to use a Virtual Assistant during peak seasons, or when their in-house assistant is unavailable. Whatever the reason, a Virtual Assistant is a sensible alternative to a business owners' administrative support needs.

Virtual Assistants, though self-employed, rely on customer service to drive their business, therefore, an equal - or even greater - sense of loyalty than that of an employee, is not unusual.

A Virtual Assistant can work with you regardless of whether you are around the corner or around the world, your work can still be completed in an cost-effective, efficient and timely manner. Outsourcing lets you concentrate on the more important issues of growing your business.

Using a Virtual Assistant is a cost effective alternative for any business, as there are none of the usual overheads encountered when employing staff, such as annual/sick leave, leave loading, superannuation contributions, long service, meal breaks, additional furniture, office space and office equipment.

12/12/2011

Top 10 Reasons Why First Step Virtual Assistant (FSVA) is Better than Hiring an In-house Office Assistant
By a VAnetworking member
Your business is growing and you have decided it is time to hire an Office Assistant. Hiring in-house staff can become complicated. Questions to answer are “where to advertise”, “what skills and experience should the candidate have”, “what will their work schedule be”, “what equipment and furniture do I need to purchase” or “what if they don’t work out”. Before writing up your recruitment ad, consider the advantages of contracting a Virtual Assistant.
With a VA, you save money as you don’t have to provide office space, furnishings or equiment. Every VA works from their own office environment.
With a VA, you don’t have to worry about coordinating work schedules. Simply send off the work to be done with a due date.
A client only pays for the actual time a VA spends on completing the task. No money spent on bathroom visits, water cooler chats, or coffee breaks.
When hiring a VA, there is no need to pay for fringe benefits like health insurance, vacation pay or employer wage deductions. A VA takes care of all their own overhead costs.
In-house staff will probably require training. A VA is already proficient with the latest tools and technology to do the job.
As an independent business owner themselves, a VA has the ability to see the bigger picture. Unlike an employee, a VA knows and understands the challenges of running a business.
A VA invests in their own business and has the software available to complete projects. A client can save money by not having to use their funds to purchase software for every new project.
As a worldwide organization, VA’s have a resource pool available to call upon. If there is a time constraint, they have access to numerous connections who can be called upon to complete the job.
Commuting is never a problem with a VA. Your work will get completed even during the worst weather. No down time due to traffic accidents, construction or vehicle emergencies.
As each client relationship is protected with a Confidentiality Agreement, you can be confident in the integrity of your VA and don’t need to worry about confidential company information being leaked at the water cooler.
When working out the true costs of hiring an employees versus contracting a Virtual Assistant, a client not only benefits by having a more qualified, more experienced professional on hand, but once the math is done, the VA often comes in at the same price or lower!
Stop by First Step Virtual Assistant today and find that VA you’ve been looking for. They are waiting, ready to assist you with all your business needs.

01/12/2011

Don't like the hassle of writing letters and other important documents, Invoices,
Reports, Quotations, Proposals ...... Let us at First Step Virtual Assistant do it for you. Tell us what you want and we will do it for you. To find out how it works call us on 479-3127 or email for more info [email protected] or simple visit us on http://firststepvirtualassistant-tt.blogspot.com/

29/11/2011

Advantages of using First Step Virtual Assistant


Do you need to spend more time at home with the kids and family?
Are you tired of promoting your business, or too tired when you get home to do that extra work ?
Why not consider using the services of First Step Virtual Assistant (FSVA)

Who we are ...
First Step Virtual Assistant comprises of a group of professionals who love what they do best.

Stay at home moms who have daily access to the internet
Retirees who still need the joys of working to keep them truly living
Educated students who can' t seem to find a job during a time when our economy has slowed down
Regular Employees who need to make some extra income this month to pay that unexpected bill

Why is First Step Virtual Assistant a must for Business
We help you enjoy your business and still get the quality time to bond with the family.
We at First Step guarantee confidentiality
It is cost effective to your staffing needs and you can actually budget your time. There is no employer /employee correlation or any hidden fees that comes with employees.
We help you stay focused. Are your worried and focused? about your products and services rather than thinking about running back office tasks. As your business grows you might unknowingly accommodate these non core activities that we at First Step Virtual Assistant are willing to take from you as our task. Now you can focus on MAKING MONEY.
We can Multi Task since there are numerous areas we can cover for you:
Online Marketing through the use of social media
We can hire for you
Research information on new products and services that might affect your business
Find new and affordable suppliers for purchasing products
Create and maintain Blogs and websites
Write business reports, short stories and articles
Logos, Newsletters on specific topics,
Proofreading
Its time you let us at First Step Virtual Assistant help save you time and money.

[email protected]

25/11/2011

USE FIRST STEP VIRTUAL ASSISTANT TO REDUCE PAYROLL COST
If business is picking up and you can’t do all the things you need to get done by yourself (or with your existing staff), consider outsourcing some work to First Step Virtual Assistant (FSVA). No, the assistant isn’t an avatar; he or she is a real person that works remotely from you. The VA is not your employee but rather an independent contractor with his or her own business, and there are many benefits to working with one.

24/11/2011

First Step Virtual Assistant have a lot of advantages. All of them translate to dollars and cents adding up to growth and profitability for your business.
Using First Step VAs allows you to shift the vital, repetitive yet essential tasks that you really do not have to do yourself, allowing you to focus on growing your top line via a new product or new service introduction or perhaps by diversifying into an entirely new business.
Ability to delegate tasks while controlling costs
Ability to access highly-skilled technical staff when necessary
Ability to increase the quality of services with new skills and technologies without internal investment
Ability to focus on new business strategies and critical services while satisfying current customers
Ability to develop new capabilities without huge investments in capital and time
Financial Benefits Of Using First Step Virtual Assistants:

VAs are independent contractors; eliminating payroll taxes, vacation pay, sick days and employee benefits such as health and dental insurance
No need to purchase additional office space or equipment
No expenses or down time for employee training
Using VAs offers you the ability to keep your projects on schedule without paying overtime
You only pay for time spent on YOUR project
Unlike traditional employees, you are NOT paying a virtual assistant for making personal phone calls, surfing the internet, chatting with co-workers or coffee/smoke breaks
No agency fees as with temporary employees
Using VAs gives you the ability to take on more work to generate more profits
The cost savings of using virtual assistants, depending on the size of your business, can be quite staggering. When you include payroll taxes and benefit packages for a full-time employee, their "real" cost is over twice their base pay!
Additional Advantages Of Using First Step Virtual Assistants:

Using a VA will allow you more time to focus on strategic planning to grow your business
Our highly trained VAs posses skills that you may not have, but require; i.e. graphic design, search engine optimization or creating power point presentations
Our VAs use state-of-the-art software that your company may not own
Using virtual assistants can help level out seasonal or cyclical fluctuations in your business
No cumbersome OSHA regulation to follow
We work around your schedule to provide you service whenever you need it
A VA can help your business gain a competitive edge by providing value-added services
Using virtual assistants lets you delegate the myriad of time consuming administrative tasks
Outsourcing work to VAs allows you to control capital costs for office furniture, computers & equipment, reduce labor costs, increase efficiency and gives you extra time to focus on your core business and start new projects quickly.
If you are looking to increase your flexibility, reduce your overhead, improve time management and grow your business, using a virtual assistant may be the right solution for you.

24/11/2011

A virtual assistant is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office.[2][3] Because virtual assistants are independent contractors rather than employees, clients are not responsible for any employee-related taxes, insurance or benefits (except in the context that those indirect expenses are included in the VAs fees). Clients also avoid the logistical problem of providing extra office space, equipment or supplies. Clients pay for 100% productive work, and can work with Virtual Assistants, individually, or in multi-VA firms to meet their exact needs. Virtual Assistants usually work for other small businesses.[4] It is estimated that there are as few as 5,000-8,000 or as many as 25,000 virtual assistants worldwide; the profession is growing in centralized economies with "fly-in, fly-out" staffing practices